A Hawk's Eye
by NerdGirl3456
Summary: This is the story of Hawkeye, the greatest archer in Skyrim. After his mother was killed when he was fifteen, this is the story of the great archer's rise in the world. From the tragedy that forged him. To the deaths that break him. This is his story.
1. Introduction-Necromancers

AN:  
Hi! Real quick before we begin:  
I will only continue publishing if you like this story  
Appreciate comments but don't abuse the privilege  
Be gentle this is my first skyrim fic  
Basically don't be an ass  
I don't own any marvel or Bethesda characters  
Cover or any other images aren't mine  
Also autocorrect is a jerk, so if things are misspelled please let me know  
************

"No," I screamed," don't hurt her!"

"Clint, run!" My mother screamed as she is pulled away by the necromancers.

I ran out the door of my family's small cabin and one of the necromancers turned around and started chasing me. I sprinted as fast as I could into the marshes, where I hid underneath a bush. Their footsteps crashed closer and my breathing grew faster and more ragged. But despite my pounding heart that I thought might give up my location, the necromancer couldn't find me and returned to my home.

My mother's screams echoed through the marshes, begging for them to stop. My knees gave out beneath me and I sunk to the ground, helpless. Tears poured down my face and I pressed my hands to my ears tried desperately to shut out her screams.


	2. Chapter 1- Nabis

I laid there for what seemed like hours. It was only when I heard the bandits clanging through the woods, back to their camp that I knew it was safe. But now what? Mother was dead and father was off fighting the Imperials. What should I do? Where can I go? I knew that Morthal was the closest city, and it was to the south. Maybe I could find help there. I staggered upright, tripped over a root and stumbled forward.

As I tried to get up, I couldn't help but wonder. What would happen to me? Sure, I could tell the guards that our home had been invaded by bandits and my mother was dead. But what then? Who would want a fifteen year old Imperial boy, alone and penniless. They would probably send me off to some horrible orphanage, and leave me to rot. I didn't want that to happen. So what should I do?

It was nearly dark when I came across the first person in hours. However I was so lost in thought, I nearly blundered into him. I stepped backwards once is saw he was a thief. An Argonian thief at that.

"Hey!" The thief said," you hafta pay if you want to get past me."

However, once the Argonian thief looked closer and saw my disheveled hair and dirty clothes, he questioned," hey, what's wrong with you boy?"

I turned and tried to run away, but he thief pulled out his bow and shot the tree next to me, about six centimeters from my face. I froze. The marksmenship shown by the thief, told me he could impale my head to the tree effortlessly. He approached me, bow still held comfortably in his left hand, and asked," who are you?"

Still terrified, I said shakily,"Clint Barton."

"How old are you, Clint?" He asked

Looking at his green face, which had morphed from a 'hostile' expression, to a somewhat friendly expression, I felt more reassured by him, even with the longbow's presence. "Fifteen," I responded to his question.

"Now what's a fifteen year old boy doing, wandering the roads lookin' like he's been in a wresting match with an orc?"  
My jaw started trembling, and even though I was embarrassed to do so, I started crying again.  
"Oh Talos," the thief muttered. He crouched down next to me and awkwardly put a scaly hand on my shoulder. I sat there sobbing for a few minutes, remembering all that had happened that day. After my tears ran out, the thief said, Come along. I have a campsite nearby. Lets get you some food."

I nodded and rose to my feet. The thief slung his longbow onto his back and helped me up. We slowly made our way towards his campsite.

We walked together through the trees, to a clearing which housed his campsite. The dim glow of the embers from his last fire still glowed with enough light for me to see the layout. A small tent laid to the right, while a cooking spit stood over the fire. A small stack of wood sat next to to tent, which the thief picked a few logs for to start the fire. A horse was tethered to he other side of the tent and by the horse was some sacks, presumably of food. I went over go inspect the horse. She looked like most of the other horses he had seen, but of the few I had seen, all of them were palomino, as Mother told me. But this one was grey with white spots on it.

"Her name is Marsh-Water," the thief said.

"That's a good name,"I honestly commented.

"Yes..." The thief said," she's probably the only thing I didn't steal."

"Where did you buy her," I asked.

"Over in Riften."

"Riften?!" I said in disbelief," but that's so far away!" I had only ever heard stories of the notorious city. Famous for its Thieves Guild and corruption, Riften is known even all the way out here in Hjalmarch. I had always wanted to go, but mother said it was too dangerous to go just for the most disgusting city in Skyrim. This thief must be in the Guild!

"Yes, it's where my faction is located," he said abruptly," the tomato soup should be ready now, if you're hungry."

I nodded, only now realizing how hungry I actually was. The thief put equal portions of the steaming soup into two wooden bowls. Tossing a spoon into each bowl, he kept one for himself and handed the other to me. We both devoured the soup, eating it in what seemed like seconds. The thief dished out another portion to each of us, and I finally had a moment to study my new friend. The thief was Argonian. He had green scaly skin with some red, but a lack of any hair. He had horns on his jaw and deep scars over the left side of his face. I suddenly realized I had never asked the thief's name. My thoughts were broken when the thief looked up at me with fierce yellow eyes asked," so what happened to you lad?"

I didn't want to relive that day. But thinking of the surprisingly kind thief, I figured it would be unkind not to tell him how I came to be here.

"My mother and I were at home working. I was preparing our garden for the winter, and Mother was cooking," I began," I started hearing some strange noises in the woods. Almost like a large group of mudcrabs were coming. I ran inside to tell Mother. She told me to hide under the bed while she scared them off. I told her that I could do it because my father had taught me how to use the bow, but she looked at me and told me that what was coming, I couldn't scare off by shooting a few arrows at it. I'll never forget the look on her face. She was terrified. My mother had studied at the Collage of Winterhold, so I figured anything that scared her had to be bad. I grabbed my bow and quiver and told her,"we'll see" she smiled and hugged me. Mother conjured up flames in her right hand and a ward in her left. The neocromacers came out of the woods quickly as we exited the house. I slid beside the door and began firing at them. A few broke off towards me, but my arrows didn't seem to do much damage. My mother however, charged them head on, burning them while trying to protect herself with her ward. They crowded around her, shooting flames, ice and sparks at her. Her spells began to falter, as she became more and more wounded. "No don't hurt her," I screamed, not being able to watch anymore. The necromancers began tearing at her and she looked at me sadly. The started pulling her away, and she screamed," Clint run!" And so I did. I ran all the way here, even dropping my only possessions, my longbow and arrows. Then after about three hours, I ended up here," I said, finishing my story.

"Damn boy," the thief said," that's some story."

I looked at my worn boots and silently nodded. I put my empty soup bowl and spoon on the ground in front of me. The thief took it as a sign that I didn't want to talk anymore, which I didn't.

"By the way?" I asked," what's your name?"

The thief smiled," Nabis," he said," Nabis Carotta."


	3. Chapter 2- Thieves

The night was... Interesting to say the least. Nabis insisted that he needed to make up 'for all the septims I had cost him'. I didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not, but I decided not to argue once he told me to sleep in his bedroll while he was out. However, once the nightmares came, I wasn't as eager to continue sleeping. But my body took over, and forced me to sleep most of the night. I woke up to Nabis stirring something in the cooking pot.

"Good morning lad," he greeted almost cheerfully," have fun sleeping the night away?"

"I'm sorry," I asked," did you need me for something?"

"We'll now that you mention it, yes there is something you could do," he said. For some reason, his tone and the glint in his eye made me think that I wouldn't like what's coming. He tossed a longbow at my feet. My longbow. The one I had to drop on the way to Morthal. And my arrows too. They sat in front of me, but they seemed like a curse. I failed to save my mother with this bow.

Nabis broke through my thoughts by saying," well I had to stay at the sorry excuse of an inn while I was out thieving. So I would very pleased if you would hunt for some extra money."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"Oh I'm just going to try and squeeze some septims out if stupid travelers," he responded.  
I nodded slowly. My lack of current trauma caused my rebellious side to surface. And what right did he have to order me around like a servant. Almost as if Nabis could sense the rebellious thoughts coming to my mind he said," also kid, you owe me."

"Yes, maybe I do owe you for the food and bed, but that's probably it." I thought

"Not just the food and bed," Nabis said, as I realized I had said that aloud," if I wasn't for me stopping you, you would be in a orphanage by now. So say you leave. Talk to anyone and they'll ship you off to Honorhall Orphanage and you'd spend your next three years wallowing in misery at the wrath of Greold the Kind."

"And how would you know this?" I argued.

Nabis sighed," because Honorhall was where I lived for my whole life. So believe me lad, I just saved you from a horrible life."  
I sat under the tent and weighed my options. Nabis silently watched me. I picked up the weapons and slung them over my shoulder. Crawling out of the tent, I made my way I to the woods.

I crouched in the mud. The wetness seeped through my shoes uncomfortably. But as I pulled back the bow, I was focused only on the deer that was walking slowly through the woods. I aimed just ahead of the deer, and released. However the string slapped painfully against the skin of my forearm and I cried out in pain. The deer looked around in alarm before running off towards the north. And my arrow hit the tree directly to the left of where the deer was a few seconds ago. "Damn it!" I shouted. The deer was the only large animal I had seen all day. The only other animal I had caught was a mudcrab I had happened upon. I stood up out of the mud and looked a the sky. Only about an hour left before the shops closed. I turned and started walking back through the woods.

Morthal was a dreary city. If you could even call it that. The wet clusters of houses and shops always seemed gray and depressing. Also the constant smell of mud always seemed to make the town seem dirty and neglected. I came up the apocrothary's shop and pushed open the door. The lady inside introduced herself as Lami and distastefully bought the mudcrab chitins that I had collected off the offensive creatures. I'm sure she got a lot of them out here, but three septims? Really!? As I left the shop and entered the inn, I groaned. Nabis was sitting at a table right inside the door, sipping at a tankard of mead. I walked up to the counter, the heat from the fire assaulting my back. The innkeeper bought my mudcrab legs and a hunk of venison from a injured deer I was lucky to come across. Unfortunately my luck ended there. I sat down next to Nabis dejected and exhausted. Between the mental strain still haunting me from yesterday and the physical tiredness from today, I was in no state to argue and all the rebellion from before was gone.

"Soo..." Nabis drawled out," how did you like your day as a honest, hardworking hunter?"

"About as much as I will cleaning the mud off these shoes," I responded, attempting some humor.

Nabis made a small chuffing sound that could have been a laugh. "You see how hard it is to live a 'proper' life? Damn nobles judge us up in their towers for bein' thieves. Well they make it so difficult to earn an honest living, they got no right to judge. How much did you make today lad?"

I looked down at the scratched up wood of the table. "Twelve septims."

Nabis let out another short chuff that I now decided was a laugh," twelve septims. Well lad today I got round a hundred. Plus goods to sell later."

I looked up quickly from the table. A hundred septims. Plus extra! I had never heard of that much money being made in one day. By thieving nonetheless. Nabis let out another chuckle at the look on my face. "stick with me lad and I'll teach you to be the best damn thief around."

Nabis ordered me pot of soup and some bread which I gulped down hungrily. We didn't make much conversation, instead listening to the bard sing the few local tunes. He was halfway through 'Ragnar the Red' when a thought occurred to me.

"Nabis?" I asked," you said that the nobles would judge us for being thieves. How did you know I would agree?"

Nabis laughed again. " Well the funny thing is," he said," that those grounds I sent you to hunt on... are the Jarl's private hunting fields. So, you already agreed to be a thief the second you picked up that bow. I'd guess if you'd been caught, the guards would have tossed you in jail by now."

Shock ran through me like lightning. The look on my face must have been funny because Nabis started laughing again.

"Lad, that's just the tip of the mountain," he said before taking another sip of wine and turning his attention back to the bard.


End file.
